[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 139 (Tuesday, October 8, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H6357]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   SHUTDOWN DUE TO LACK OF LEADERSHIP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Mica) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, why are we here?
  We are here because of a failure of leadership. The fact is the 
President of the United States has failed to negotiate. The fact is the 
Majority Leader of the Senate, the head of the Senate, has failed and 
refuses to negotiate.
  It's interesting how time changes one's perspective. Let me quote 
Barack Obama before he became President. These are the words of Barack 
Obama. He said:

       Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and 
     internationally. Leadership means ``the buck stops here.'' 
     Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices 
     today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. 
     America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. 
     Americans deserve better.

  Barack Obama said it very well before he became President. Now he 
needs to serve and act as President and provide the leadership.
  The fact is October 1 is the beginning of the financial year, and we 
should responsibly fund the government. The fact is, in just a few more 
days, we will reach $17 trillion in indebtedness--nearly half of that 
incurred since Barack Obama has become President. Think about that. 
They're going to come and ask for another $1.9 trillion to keep us 
going for 1 more year. That means in 6 years we will double the debt 
that's racking up the greatest debt in the history of mankind for any 
government.
  Republicans might like to think that we won the House of 
Representatives back in 2010 and '95, but it was the same issues: 
spending, taxes, and health care. Remember HillaryCare and the taxes 
and other things imposed by President Clinton. The difference is 
President Clinton negotiated with us. We balanced the budget within 2 
years. We can do that if good people of good faith will come together 
and negotiate, but we can't negotiate by ourselves.
  The Constitution empowered the House of Representatives to be in 
charge of and responsible for levying taxes--because we're closest to 
the people--and spending. We have that responsibility. They sent us 
here. They elected us, rejecting the spending that went on. They saw 
what went on--$1 trillion more than you took in, spending, the first 
year of this Presidency, and $1 trillion since. So we must act 
responsibly, but we must have leadership starting from the White House, 
starting from the Senate.
  Republicans in the House are ready to negotiate. We were here when 
the Senate didn't show up on Sunday. They didn't show up to work the 
day before the 1st of October to fund this current year. We must be 
here to meet, responsibly, our debt. We can't put that debt, as the 
President has said before he was President, on the backs of our 
children and grandchildren; but we can't do that without the system 
working. We need leadership--leadership from the President to 
negotiate, leadership from the Senate to negotiate.
  Our leadership has said they will negotiate. We've been here--we'll 
stay here--but we need to responsibly fund all the activities of 
government even if it's piece by piece, as we have responsibly done, 
and sent them over to the other body, and they sit there.
  But again, I urge all of the leaders to come together, and my 
colleagues, particularly the Senate and the President of the United 
States. We can do responsibly what we need to do, as designated by the 
Constitution of the United States, and provide that leadership.

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